She was 64 years old

MOSCOW, July 12, /ITAR-TASS/. One of Russia's long-time political oppositionists, Valeria Ilyinichna Novodvorskaya, who started out as a dissident philosopher and activists before the beginning of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika, has died in Moscow at the age of 64, the liberalist Moscow Echo radio said.

Novodvorskaya, a personality with an offbeat life story, remarkable unconventional views and unparalleled explicitness in what concerned the formulation of her political positions, will be remembered as a staunch critic of virtually all the authorities, whose rule and/or term of office fell on her lifetime.

Moscow City’s Deputy Mayor in charge of social development, Leonid Pechatnikov, said Novodvorskaya had died at general hospital No. 13 from complications of a chronic disease.

He said Novodvorskaya had had a range of chronic diseases and one of them had produced a major complication.

Officials at general hospital No. 13 she had been staying in an intensive care ward in the past few days. Her condition deteriorated sharply Saturday morning.

Decision on the date and place of Novodvorskaya’s burial is to be taken by her relatives, Pechatnikov said.